by Pam Uphoff
He was still busy telling Betelgeuse what he believed she could do with a little personal coaching from him as Eldon walked his wife upstairs.
Martha eased over to him. "I can't decide if I admire that level of back stabbing, or am horrified by the Deer's taking advantage of that poor woman."
"Maybe she'll leave him."
"For a man we're going to put in prison?"
"Well, I suppose I'd be in trouble if I said maybe he'd escape with her before our noose closes?"
"Probably. You're the boss. You aren't supposed to even think things like that. But you know they haven't killed anyone, nor even much of assaulted anyone, other than the women that warthog always kissed or groped on the way out. They'll be out on parole inside of ten years."
"Sometimes I wonder why I do this job. Keep in mind that Bellemiso has killed, and ordered killed, dozens of people. He's sold the weapons that have helped one group or another slaughter their way to power. If you have to choose, get him and let the Animals escape."
"Gottcha, boss."
He looked down at her a little worried.
"I'll stop calling you boss when I stop reporting to you, which will be real soon now."
"Will you marry me?"
"Yes."
As their lips reluctantly parted, he became aware of whistling and clapping.
"Damn, asked her right out in public. Now that's nerve." Dirk was smirking.
"Or confidence." Norm looked up at Char. "You don't look the least bit surprised."
"Ha! I have my eyes open. Martha's been stalking him for at least a year. High time she moved in for the kill. Now all we need is a preacher."
"I think there's licenses and telling our families and do you want a large wedding?" He eyed the object of his desires thoughtfully. "Flowers, white dress, tux and the whole works?"
"Umm, how about a medium wedding? We'll have to see what happens when the parents hear."
Jim sighed. "My mother is going to go wild. I think she gave up on me a decade ago. We may find that we have a large wedding in our future."
Dirk grinned. "Good. The department needs a good wedding."
"Yeah, about time we started breeding the next generation." Andy cracked up. "Oh the look on your faces! Priceless."
Peggy the Park Ranger and Jack Devlin were grinning.
"Ooo. If only I had that much nerve." The deputy murmured.
"Just as well you don't, you'd get turned down in public and then where would your reputation be around here?" Her cheeks were a little pink though.
"Couldn't possibly be any worse than it is already. 'Poor Jack, can't even get a date.' Would change to 'Wow! When did that happen!' Big Improvement."
"Ass. When did what happen."
"Anything that gave me confidence that you might say yes."
Dirk eyed Char.
"Not a hope. We don't even like each other."
"You won't settle for lust?"
"Trust me, I do not lust after you."
Jim put an arm around Martha's waist and listened contentedly to the swirls of conversations around them. Eventually she led him over to a very large chair, perfect for the two of them, and they pretended to watch all their suspects. Bellemiso was playing solitaire. Rior was reading and Heso was talking to one of the Arabic sisters at a table, maybe playing some sort of game. Eldon was still absent and the rest of the Animals had their heads together with the Cook and manager, probably about what to cook for dinner, and how. The other three arabs were clumped together, and occasionally wandered out to check the weather personally. Jim judged it by the accumulation of snow on their shoulders when they came back in.
Chickens appeared, spitted and were shortly being hand turned over the coals. It was quite a flock. Good thing it was a large fireplace. They sizzled and started smelling good almost immediately.
"They must have a hell of a freezer." Martha muttered.
"Freezers, plural. I took a look. With the back open to the storm it's all staying plenty cold. They must keep enough stuff to feed an inn full of guests in exactly these sorts of occasions. Minus the avalanche. I suspect they thought in terms of having a working kitchen."
She nodded. "So. I give my apartment the heave-ho and you open up more of your house, eh?"
"Yep. I never thought I'd need it all, but it was a foreclosure and so close to work . . . it's got a nice yard, if you want gardens, pets or kids."
"Umm. I'm forty, and you're?"
"Forty-five. Children might be a bit risky, or not even an option. Probably not wise." Jim turned his head and looked at the herd of kids in their designated quarter of the floor space. "But I keep feeling these pangs of envy. Why does that look so natural and healthy?"
"I think it speaks to our primitive brain, and it says, women fixing food around campfire, children playing nearby where their mothers can watch them. And of course, you, the mighty hunter, lolling about like the king of the universe caps off the perfect scene that makes our primitive backbrains feel they somehow returned to sanity and home."
"Huh. So that's why I feel so smug, content, elated and floozled. Has nothing to do with the woman of my dreams sitting on my lap."
"Depends on the definition of floozled. Is it akin to cutting off the circulation below the waist?"
"Umm, I assure you the below the waist regions are getting plenty of blood flow." He hugged her and shifted her a bit, because one of his legs was getting a bit numb. Not that he was about to admit it. "I figure we'll be buried in paperwork for a month, so if we get married on the first of next month, we might manage to sneak away for a long weekend, and come back just in time for all the heavy legal maneuvers to hit."
"Hmm. The DA's office is going to be in raptures, except when they're demanding yet another deposition. I think I'll quit and go to work for the locals. Leave the DA to you lot."
"Coward. At least you didn't say you were going to write the expose and get rich."
"Oh, good idea. Will you still marry me if I become a filthy rich expose writer?"
"Heck yeah. Then I could quit and loll about like the king of the universe full time." He snugged her up close and let the time slip away, half an eye on each perp until they closed altogether.
Chapter Ten
Tuesday 15 November 2015
Dice Creek
Tuesday dawned bright and clear. It was barely below freezing, and Jim, toward the end of the third watch, climbed around in the wreckage of the kitchen and back porch until he located a snow shovel.
"Dirk? Andy? Where did you park? See what you can find out there."
The Yuppies perked up at the thought of leaving and the shovel got a steady workout as the men rotated back in to warm their fingers and toes and peel out of their jackets to let the sweat dry.
Pancakes, bacon, hot tea and hot coffee were kept going. Various bits of broken furniture were tried out as ice picks and pry-bars, and by noon all the cars had been identified. Rior shook his head over one badly dented SUV, side on to the avalanche, but even it started up and ran. They started working on digging a path out of the parking lot.
The sheriff's helicopter hovered over them briefly, and Devlin scribbled out a quick note about the avalanche, and the five missing men.
Bellemiso was in the room and looked over his shoulder. "Will they send a search party?"
"Depends on how many possibly live people they're searching for. I'm afraid there really isn't any hope for your friends, at this point."
The kingpin nodded. "There was no hope half an hour after it happened. But I hate to think of their bodies, unburied, thawing out and rotting."
The deputy nodded. "I know it's hard for you, but they'll have to wait for the living."
"Yes. Yes, of course."
Devlin wrapped his note around a stone and tossed it accurately through the open door of the copter.
He received, in return, a sturdy radio and a sheaf of reports.
They read them in the parking lot. Theirs was not the only avalan
che, another had taken out a cell tower and power conduits where they crossed a creek, and damaged four homes, with multiple injuries and two deaths.
"Well, that explains why the phones don't work." Jim muttered. Estimated progress with the snow plows . . . "It's going to be two more days unless we dig out the road all the way to the county highway."
"That's six miles," the manager said. "John Buley, who's got a cabin about halfway there has a little plow he can put on the front of his truck. I don't know if it can handle this much snow."
Eldon yawned. "I figure I can just sleep while someone else does the rest of the work, with the right equipment."
The work slowed considerably after that bit of news, all their enthusiasm for escaping dying under the load of reality. Jim faded back, and then waved the others ahead and circled a bit to where even his ears could barely hear the conversations out in the parking lot. The Animals all left next, and Eldon said something to the Arabs that had them giving up as well.
Bellemiso paced back and forth looking around, and finally nodded in satisfaction. "Finally. What a madhouse. Now, show me what you have."
"As I said, the three small prototypes, and the one full sized . . . power generator." One of the yuppies, Christ, hadn't he even gotten their full names? This one answered to Chip. Chip and friends popped open the trunks of their four cars. "They are all disassembled for safety, of course. But you just hold these sections around the core, slide this in and it clicks into place. Timer here, with a five minute safety delay. Even on foot you should be able to get out of the region of affect. The full scale model also has an automatic five minute delay. But in its case it is to assure that you have the time to set the mechanism's delay trip as you desire. The radius of the NRQ effect will be roughly twelve miles."
"Roughly." Bellemiso stared at him.
"We can't test a full scale version. You saw the vids of the first prototype. The samples of the ground that was left afterwards. That one was half the size of these. The very earliest tests were even smaller, and they scaled exponentially. These prototypes will take out a hundred foot diameter sphere. _Everyone_ will be very impressed, and I doubt you'll ever use the full scale model." Marley, the dark haired one, had a really irritating whine to his voice.
Bruce nodded. "So? Your part?"
Bellemiso nodded and two of the three bodyguards walked over to the big jag. "Fortunately I decided to leave them in the car. One of the reasons I had a patrol walking the grounds at all times." The goons appeared to be removing the spare tire and taking something from beneath it. One brought it to Bellemiso while the other replaced the spare. "Four portfolios of stock certificates, with all the documentation appended. All the passwords and locations for the online trades, as well as the New York stock brokerage accounts. All purchased bit by bit over the last three years, in amounts that are well under your cash expenditures, so the IRS won't come to get you. It looks completely legitimate. An average investment portfolio, with an unusually lucky streak when it comes to the smaller stocks you all took such risks on. But I repeat myself. Just watch those penny stocks. Every few months one or two will leap up in price, and you will sell. Such a lucky, lucky trader, you are."
Doors slammed and cheerful voices rose from the lodge.
"Look them over. There is no rush, tomorrow night my helicopter will come and these power generators and I will be gone, and you will drive home and tell all your friends about your tragic adventure. Mrs. Reynolds, you have my deepest sympathy. Just remember to watch the stock prices, and let time heal your heart." He bowed and walked back toward the lodge.
The seven yuppies looked around in confusion, then closed up whatever was in their trunks, and shut the trunks.
Jim craned his neck. The kids were out playing in the snow, and the adult Animals appeared to be building snow men.
"I wish you lot had never had this stupid idea." The widow swiped at her cheeks.
"It's not stupid, Brooke. If George hadn't been jonesing for his fix everything would have been fine."
"He wasn't, he . . . he was just a bit uptight."
"Well, sweetie, no point in worrying about it. For all we know he got out ahead of the avalanche and is safe and sound, throwing fits and worrying about you." The big busty Deidre put a companionable arm around her shoulders and pulled her toward the lodge.
"Oh! Oh! And I've been so sure . . . Oh, he'll laugh at me."
"Not a doubt about it." Vivian walked along on her other side. The last woman hung back with the men in silence.
Jim stayed where he was until his toes stopped hurting. Then he took a long path around and walked in from a different direction.
Dirk looked at him.
"No reception from up the mountain a bit, either." Jim pulled off his pale jacket and pried off his boots. "Nasty wet snow. I can't believe they're playing in it. Ah." He settled in front of the fireplace and warmed some feeling back into his toes.
The Fox brought him a cup of coffee.
"You have baby duty?" He peered at the two youngest of the kids. "How old are they? I haven't a clue how to judge."
She chuckled. "They're not crawling yet, so under seven months. Easy rule of thumb. Actually they're starting to scoot a bit, so it'll be soon."
"Right, and walking and talking happens at about a-year-old, right?"
"Right. Although it's mostly single words with pointing to fill out the meaning. It sounds like you and your new fiancé may be making plans for a family."
"Ah, I dunno. It's kinda scary, and we aren't really young any more." Jim shrugged. Wrong person to be talking to about this.
"Oh, don't you believe all that nonsense. If you want kids, have them. If you don't, don't." She swooped down and grabbed the baby who was working her determined way toward the fireplace. "Oh no you don't kiddo. Fried baby is just disgusting."
Looking around, Jim saw that Bellemiso had left, apparently satisfied that Jim hadn't seen or heard anything. Then Martha wandered back out from the hallway and curled up beside him.
"I hope you realize what an amazingly romantic way to propose that was. Think how impressive it will sound, in a couple of decades. Snowed in, deadly avalanche, cooking over coals in the fireplace . . . "
He chuckled and relaxed as the cook brought in pots of snow to start whatever tonight's dinner might be. "High time I got up the nerve."
They transferred to a couch to get out of the cooks' way, and watched as the kids came in cold and happy and were hauled off for dry clothes. Hmm. He pulled out the neck of his shirt and dipped his nose for a sniff.
"Whew. And you actually want to get close to me?"
"Shhh. I'm trying to ignore that I smell too. They're going to have to seal off the pipes to the kitchen and north wing before they can do anything in the way of . . . well. actually I suppose they're out of business for the season."
The cook looked over and nodded. "We have insurance, but not lost business insurance. We're too low down, don't usually get snow until Christmas. So we lose money as often as we make it, and I expect this damage has finally finished us off. Debbie and I are sisters, we own it half and half, bought it with our insurance money when our husbands died in a car crash."
"Will you fix it up and sell it?" Martha looked around. "It's really got excellent atmosphere."
"Yes, and the kids love it. I'm just not sure we can recoup from losing a whole winter's business. Well, we may just try. It'll sell better if it's in business while it's on the market, anyway."
The kids galloped back in, looking scrubbed and clean, chattering away. Eldon looked pretty spiffy himself, and hauled the kids off to tell stories in the corner.
"Wow, your guys look clean."
"All it takes is hot water." Eppie grinned. "Grab a kettle, a big bowl of snow, and take it to your room."
Who'd have thought a hot soapy wash cloth could feel so good. Feeling like a civilized human being, he took the empty kettle back downstairs and filled it with snow and set it beside the fire, for
the next uncivilized caveman who came by.
The littlest kids were already asleep and were carried off to bed. The boys were wiggly and Eldon sat them down to play Go Fish until dinner—steaks tonight—was ready.
Jim and Martha were the last up, and ignored the ribald comments Dirk threw their way. "We really are on duty." She pulled him off the couch and they walked the rounds, not venturing down the north hallway, but giving it a long look.
Martha sighed. "You know, I think this is the most I've been around kids, ever. Everyone says they're such a problem, but this lot seems to not have any problems."
"Well, they've got four women trading off, plus I've noticed the guys are all available, especially the dreaded and sicko Deer, to mind them. I think it'd be different with two parents, both of us working." He looked at her and smiled. "But aren't they just wonderful little creatures?"
"Yes. Goodness, my hormones must be in an uproar to even be thinking this. We ought to talk to a geneticist. My grandparents offered to pay for a complete analysis, so I'd know what I might be prone to, and what I'd pass on to any children I might have. I never did it. I never wanted to know for sure how horrible I was. They're supposed to be quick and accurate, these days."
"Probably wise. Find out what the two of us might produce together. Mind you, I loved my granddad. I'm going to hard to distress."
"Well, whatever I've got is probably worse. And a generation closer."
"Let's go find out. Decide based on information, not fear."
"Right."
Jim glanced out the front windows. The half moon shed enough light to reflect from the snow and brighten the scene. The snowmen slumped wearily, and the path to the parking lot was clear and dark. Movement in the trees resolved into a deer. A magnificent buck with swept back antlers of impressive length, bristling with points. Against the snow it looked black. It waded through the deep snow, then switched to a series of long bounding leaps before it disappeared into the trees to the north of the parking lot.
***
Eldon didn't much like the deep snow. He needed to figure out some animal that could walk on top of it. Mountain lion maybe? Didn't they have big feet? Or was that the lynx? He'd be a damn big lynx. He pulled out the witches' cat transformation spell. Hmm, alter it to go all the way, first, then the color . . . a pale sandy blonde all over would do well in the snow, but lacked character. A few edges of dark brown? And mottling, a bit darker and a bit lighter. Big feet with plenty of hair. He changed back to human then triggered the new spell. Wow, ouch, ouch, the teeth were really different, two changes in a row was definitely not . . . Huh. He looked around as best he could, and decided he was pretty neat. He swished the long tail. Excellent. He'd had years to learn how to move an appendage he hadn't been born with. He'd check a mirror later. He walked carefully over the snow, and gaining confidence, bounded around a bit and broke through. Well, not perfect, but pretty good. Cautious again, he walked the edges of the avalanche, sniffing. No sign of the bodies. The actual slide surface, down here where it had all piled up, was jumbled and icy hard. Well, if someone wanted to find the bodies, they could just bring in some dogs.